Political Science Commons^™

Cultural Foundations Of Contentious Democracy In South Korea, Youngho Cho, Mi-Son Kim, Yong Cheol Kim

Political Science Faculty Publications

This study takes a cultural approach to examine the unstable and contentious nature of Korean democracy. Analyzing an original nationwide survey conducted in 2015, we find that the democratic and participatory culture of the Korean people underlies Korean democracy. This finding suggests substantial tension between the participatory orientation of the public and Korean representative democracy.

A New Dawn For Latin American Militaries: Across The Region, Militarization Is On The Rise, Posing A Major Threat To Democracy And Justice. What Can Be Done?, Brett J. Kyle, Andrew G. Reiter

Political Science Faculty Publications

On July 26, 2018, thousands of protesters, led by the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, marched in Argentina to oppose President Mauricio Macri's plans to empower the military to engage in domestic policing. In a country where a military regime killed thousands of civilians between 1976 and 1983, the prospect of the military on the streets again has opened old wounds and incited a heated debate. Macri defended the change, which was implemented by two executive decrees, as being necessary to enable Argentina to face the security challenges of the 21st century, including drug trafficking and terrorism.

An Analysis Of U.S. Custom And Border Protection’S Tripartite Mexico Border Security Policy, Terence Garrett

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Custom and Border Protection (CBP) border security policy was explicitly presented by former Acting Commissioner of CBP, David Aguilar, in testimony before the United States Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) on April 4, 2017 in testimony on the subject of “Fencing Along the Southwest Border.” Important for discussion here are the key components of the DHS/CBP/Border Patrol’s strategy, or sets of policies, laying forth elements of the border walls (including barriers, fences), personnel, and technology in order to hinder, or intercept, undocumented migrants (homo sacer) from entering the United States illegally—all socially constructed. Aguilar …

Framing And Immigration Through The Trump Era, Rudy Alamillo, Chris Haynes, Raul Madrid

Political Science Faculty Publications

For the last decade, undocumented or illegal immigration has been one of the most contested policy issues in the United States, with significant news attention on policies affecting the undocumented population, ranging from deportations to comprehensive immigration reform, the DREAM Act, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Despite these prominent and multifaceted policy debates, scholarship on media framing and public opinion remain more focused on the portrayal of immigrants rather than policies affecting them. In general, we find that policy frames are far more consequential to public opinion than equivalency frames (variations in how news media describe unauthorized immigrants, either …

Naming Names: The Impact Of Supreme Court Opinion Attribution On Citizen Assessment Of Policy Outcomes, Scott S. Boddery, Laura P. Moyer, Jeff Yates

Political Science Faculty Publications

The manner in which political institutions convey their policy outcomes can have important implications for how the public views institutions' policy decisions. This paper explores whether the way in which the U.S. Supreme Court communicates its policy decrees affects how favorably members of the public assess its decisions. Specifically, we investigate whether attributing a decision to the nation's High Court or to an individual justice influences the public's agreement with the Court's rulings. Using an experimental design, we find that when a Supreme Court outcome is ascribed to the institution as a whole, rather than to a particular justice, people …

Polls And Elections: Is Loyalty A Powerful Thing? Republican Senate Campaign Strategy And Trump Coattails In The 2016 Election, Neilan S. Chaturvedi, Chris Haynes

Political Science Faculty Publications

Presidential candidates provide a boost to their congressional candidate counterparts, in which congressional candidates should ride the proverbial coattails into office (Campbell and Sumners 1990; Stewart 1989). The 2016 election, however, provides an instance in which the presidential coattails were less than desirable. In this article, we argue that state politics determines the optimal strategy for how candidates should position themselves vis‐à‐vis a controversial presidential candidate. Based on our findings, voters rewarded candidates at varying levels for distancing themselves from then candidate Trump. Specifically, the disloyal strategy, in which candidates completely disavowed Trump, worked best in swing states and among …

Societal Rather Than Governmental Change: Religious Discrimination In Muslim-Majority Countries After The Arab Uprisings, Yasemin Akbaba, Jonathan Fox

Political Science Faculty Publications

This study examines shifts in governmental religion policy and societal discrimination against religious minorities in Muslim-Majority states after the Arab Uprisings by using the Religion and State round 3 (RAS3) dataset for the years 2009-2014 and by focusing on 49 Muslim-majority countries and territories. We build on threads of literature on religious pluralism in transitional societies to explain the changes in governmental religion policy and societal discrimination against religious minorities after the Arab Uprisings. This literature predicts a rise in all forms of discrimination in Arab Uprising states as compared to other Muslim-majority states, and an even more significant rise …

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dejan Guzina

Political Science Faculty Publications

Bosnia-Herzegovina is an ideal case study for understanding the complexities of post-Cold War conflict resolution. The chapter provides an overview and an evaluation of the lessons that can be drawn from the Bosnian peace process. More specifically, it addresses the following questions: how can the Dayton peace process be evaluated from the perspective of the past twenty-some years? Can Bosnia-Herzegovina be genuinely upheld as the "gold standard” of peacebuilding? And, does Bosnia-Herzegovina lend itself to easy comparisons?

Religion And Political Parties In Brazil, Pedro A. G. Dos Santos, Linsey Moddelmog

Political Science Faculty Publications

An overview of religion and politics in Brazil, including democratisation, party moderation and secularisation, social constituency representation and interest articulation.

Do Economic Linkages Through Fdi Lead To Institutional Change? Assessing Outcomes In Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan And Kyrgyzstan, Rachel Vanderhill, Sandra F. Joireman, Roza Tulepbayeva

Political Science Faculty Publications

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can deliver benefits beyond the provision of capital, such as efficiency gains. We argue that the theorised positive effects of economic linkage are reduced when linkages are based on natural resources. Domestic elite coalitions supporting reform are also weaker in countries with extensive natural resources. Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan have high-value natural resources and significant FDI, making them most likely cases for reform. Kyrgyzstan is a contrasting case as it has few natural resources. We find that the institutional reforms we would anticipate because of linkages have not occurred and those that exist are often cosmetic.

How To Turn Down Political Heat On Supreme Court And Federal Judges: Stop Signing Opinions, Scott S. Boddery

Political Science Faculty Publications

Chief Justice John Roberts rightly — albeit in an uncharacteristically direct manner — defended the integrity of the federal judiciary and its members from a direct affront from the president of the United States. Roberts’s defense sent President Donald Trump atwitter in a series of messages that doubled down on his previous ridicule of an “Obama Judge” from the “total disaster” Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. [except]

The Condition And Trend Of Aspen, Willows, And Associated Species On The Northern Yellowstone Range, Charles E. Kay

Political Science Faculty Publications

Aspen (Populus tremuloides), willows (Salix spp.), and other deciduous shrubs and trees occupied a relatively small portion of the primeval Northern Yellowstone Range (hereafter referred to as the Northern Range1). However, these plant communities provided critical habitat for diverse flora and fauna. Consequently, aspen, willows, and cottonwoods were vitally important for biodiversity across the landscape, and these plant communities played a pivotal role in how the primeval ecosystem functioned sustainably since the last Ice Age.

What Trump’S Picks For The Presidential Medal Of Freedom Say About Him, E. Fletcher Mcclellan, Christopher J. Devine, Kyle C. Kopko

Political Science Faculty Publications

President Donald Trump awarded his first ever Presidential Medals of Freedom this month to seven recipients: Babe Ruth, Elvis Presley, Antonin Scalia, Orrin Hatch, Roger Staubach, Alan Page and Miriam Adelson. It is the nation’s highest civilian honor.

These ceremonies, which normally occur once or twice per year, provide Americans with an opportunity to celebrate the achievements of various people who have made an important contribution to U.S. culture. Because the president selects recipients with total discretion – American or otherwise, living or dead –- this award also says a lot about the president himself.

What achievements or contributions does …

An Ecological Assessment Of The Northern Yellowstone Range: Introduction To The Special Issue, Jeffrey C. Mosley, Joseph Fidel, Harold E. Hunter, Peter O. Husby, Charles E. Kay, John G. Mundinger

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Northern Range (a.k.a., Northern Yellowstone Range) is 380,000 acres of rangeland and forest in northwestern Wyoming and south-central Montana within and adjacent to Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Sixty percent of the Northern Range is within YNP and 40% is north of YNP on federal, state, and private lands in Montana (Fig. 1). Inside YNP, about 60% of the Northern Range is rangeland and 40% is forest. Outside YNP, the Northern Range in Montana is mostly foothill grassland and sagebrush steppe, while the bottomlands are dominated by irrigated pastures and hayfields. The Northern Range outside YNP is a working landscape …

Human Influences On The Northern Yellowstone Range, Jeffrey C. Mosley, Peter O. Husby

Political Science Faculty Publications

Humans have continuously inhabited the Northern Yellowstone Range (hereafter referred to as the Northern Range1 ) inside and outside Yellowstone National Park (YNP) for at least 11,000 years.2–5 Across these many years, humans have actively used, abused, and conserved the natural resources of the Northern Range. Human actions helped shape the vegetation and wildlife present on the Northern Range from prehistoric times to present day.

Chapter 1: Introduction, Richard T. Longoria

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Blurring Institutional Boundaries: Judges' Perceptions Of Threats To Judicial Independence, Alyx Mark, Michael A. Zilis

Political Science Faculty Publications

The legislature wields multiple tools to limit judicial power, but scholars have little information about how judges interpret variant threats and which they find most concerning. To provide insight, we conduct original interviews regarding legislative threats to courts with over two dozen sitting federal judges, representing all tiers of the federal judiciary. We find that judges have a nuanced understanding of threats and tend to identify components of legislative proposals that threaten formal institutional powers as more concerning than those challenging policy set by judges. This distinction has broad implications for our understanding of judicial behavior at the federal level.

Leaving The Devil You Know: Crime Victimization, Us Deterrence Policy, And The Emigration Decision In Central America, Jonathan T. Hiskey, Abby Córdova, Mary Fran Malone, Diana M. Orcés

Political Science Faculty Publications

Following a sharp increase in the number of border arrivals from the violence-torn countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in the spring and summer of 2014, the United States quickly implemented a strategy designed to prevent such surges by enhancing its detention and deportation efforts. In this article, we examine the emigration decision for citizens living in the high-crime contexts of northern Central America. First, through analysis of survey data across Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, we explore the role crime victimization plays in leading residents of these countries to consider emigration. Next, using survey data collected across twelve …

What Senators Should Ask Brett Kavanaugh, Scott S. Boddery

Political Science Faculty Publications

At today’s confirmation hearing of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, senators are attempting to decipher how Kavanaugh will rule on certain issue areas should he be confirmed to the high court. Senators will undoubtedly demand answers to their questions that ask whether Judge Kavanaugh will vote to uphold certain past cases, such as Roe v. Wade or Citizens United, and they’ll want a “simple yes or no” answer. While this line of questioning will primarily originate from the left side of the aisle this time around, this tactic is routinely used by both parties when vetting Supreme Court nominees. …

Industrial Structure And Political Outcomes: The Case Of The 2016 Us Presidential Election, Thomas Ferguson, Paul D. Jorgensen, Jie Chen

Political Science Faculty Publications

This paper analyzes the US presidential election of 2016, examining the patterns of industrial structure and party competition in both the major party primaries and the general election. It attempts to identify the new, historically specific factors that led to the upheavals, especially the steady growth of a “dual economy” that locks more and more Americans out of the middle class. It draws extensively on a newly assembled, more comprehensive database to identify the specific political forces that coalesced around each candidate, including the various stages of the Trump campaign.

Beyond Keeping The Peace: Can Peacekeepers Reduce Ethnic Divisions After Violence?, Douglas D. Page, Sam Whitt

Political Science Faculty Publications

Existing research suggests that international peacekeeping contributes to conflict resolution and helps sustain peace, often in locations with hostile ethnic divisions. However, it is unclear whether the presence of peacekeepers actually reduces underlying ethnocentric views and parochial behaviors that sustain those divisions. We examine the effects of NATO peacekeeper deployments on ethnocentrism in postwar Bosnia. While peacekeepers were not randomly deployed in Bosnia, we find that highly ethnocentric attitudes were common across Bosnia at the onset of peacekeeper deployments, reducing endogeneity concerns. To measure ethnocentrism, we employ a variety of survey instruments as well as a behavioral experiment (the dictator …

What If Hillary Clinton Had Gone To Wisconsin? Presidential Campaign Visits And Vote Choice In The 2016 Election, Christopher J. Devine

Political Science Faculty Publications

Hillary Clinton’s failure to visit the key battleground state of Wisconsin in 2016 has become a popular metaphor for the alleged strategic inadequacies of her presidential campaign. Critics who cite this fact, however, make two important assumptions: that campaign visits are effective, in general, and that they were effective for Clinton in 2016. I test these assumptions using an original database of presidential and vice presidential campaign visits in 2016. Specifically, I regress party vote share on each candidate’s number of campaign visits, at the county level, first for all counties located within battleground states, and then for counties located …

Militarization Redux: Across The Region, Latin America's Militaries Are Regaining Power Through The Court System, Brett J. Kyle, Andrew G. Reiter

Political Science Faculty Publications

On November 11, 2017, eight civilians were killed in a joint police and army security operation carried out in São Gonçalo, Brazil. Survivors and witnesses reported seeing special forces, dressed in black with laser-scoped rifles, being deployed by helicopter and shooting from a wooded area. The military, however, has refused to investigate the case or cooperate with civilian authorities. Thanks to a new law passed the previous month, it has the legal right to do so.

A New Security Framework For Geoengineering, Elizabeth L. Chalecki, Lisa L. Ferrari

Political Science Faculty Publications

As the national security ramifications of climate change grow more pronounced, climate manipulation technologies, called geoengineering, will become more attractive as a method of staving off climate-related security emergencies. Geoengineering includes methods of carbon dioxide removal and/or solar radiation management and can theoretically achieve significant reductions in warming-related environmental changes, but they are scientifically untested. Geoengineering technologies have the potential to disrupt the global ecological status quo and mount a potentially coercive threat with implications as serious as those in wartime. Several of these technologies can be deployed from the global commons, but international law provides no more than indirect …

Split Tickets? On The Strategic Allocation Of Presidential Versus Vice Presidential Visits In 2016, Christopher J. Devine, Kyle C. Kopko

Political Science Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the strategic allocation of presidential campaign visits in 2016. In particular, we test whether each campaign disproportionately targeted its presidential versus vice presidential candidates’ visits toward voters with whom they shared a salient demographic or political characteristic. Our purpose in doing so is to discern whether—and, if so, among which groups—the campaigns perceived the candidates as having a strategic advantage in appealing to affiliated voters. To this end, we analyze an original database of 2016 campaign visits that includes local population characteristics for each host site. Our results indicate that each ticket’s visits were highly coordinated across …

Genre Et Professionnalisation De La Politique Municipale : Un Portrait Des Élues Et Élus Du Québec, D’Anne Mévellec Et Manon Tremblay, Québec, Presses De L’Université Du Québec, 2016, 300 P. (Review), Alexandre Couture Gagnon

Political Science Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Kennedy Retirement Plunges Supreme Court Into Politics. Here's How To Turn Down The Heat., Scott S. Boddery

Political Science Faculty Publications

Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision to retire from the Supreme Court could create a sea change in the court’s jurisprudence for years to come. The debate about his successor will once again underscore the fierce partisan politics that surround the court.

It’s worth recalling that the constitutional framers originally envisioned a Supreme Court that was insulated from such politics. In fact, Alexander Hamilton argued quite famously, in Federalist No. 78, that the court must be protected from the electorate in order to serve as a check against the political branches of government without fear of reprisals at the ballot box. [ …

Authority, Legitimacy, And The Obligation To Obey The Law, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

According to the standard or traditional account, those who hold political authority legitimately have a right to rule that entails an obligation of obedience on the part of those who are subject to their authority. In recent decades, however, and in part in response to philosophical anarchism, a number of philosophers have challenged the standard account by reconceiving authority in ways that break or weaken the connection between political authority and obligation. This paper argues against these revisionist accounts in two ways: first, by pointing to defects in their conceptions of authority; and second, by sketching a fair-play approach to …

The State Of American Federalism 2017–2018: Unilateral Executive Action, Regulatory Rollback, And State Resistance, Shanna Rose, Greg Goelzhauser

Political Science Faculty Publications

The state of American federalism in 2017–2018 is characterized by federal policy reversals, as the Trump administration and congressional Republicans continue to undo many of the Obama administration’s policies. Two themes are highlighted in this essay. First, major policy changes continue to be undertaken primarily through unilateral executive action, even with Republicans holding the presidency and both the House and Senate. Ideological divisions within the Republican Party prevented Congress from enacting major legislation, save for a tax reform measure, and resulted in policy changes on health care, immigration, and the environment being made through executive and administrative action. Another prominent …

Rethinking Measures Of Democracy And Welfare State Universalism: Lessons From Subnational Research, Agustina Giraudy, Jennifer Pribble

Political Science Faculty Publications

Democracy and the welfare state are two of the most extensively studied concepts and themes in the field of comparative politics. Debate about how to best measure the two concepts has failed to contemplate the extent to which political and social rights are uniformly present across distinct regions of the national territory, despite the presence of substantial subnational research that underscores wide variation inside countries. We argue that this omission hampers our understanding of the two phenomena and we propose a new measure of democracy and healthcare unversalism, which we call the Adjusted Measures of Democracy and Welfare Universalism. …